Plans rolling ahead for new skate park

California skate park designers, local skaters and parish officials gathered Wednesday night to put the finishing touches on designs for a new public skateboarding haven to be built in Houma.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

California skate park designers, local skaters and parish officials gathered Wednesday night to put the finishing touches on designs for a new public skateboarding haven to be built in Houma. “We’re entering the building phase,” said Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet at a Houma Municipal Auditorium skate park workshop. “The train is out of the station, it’s moving, and we are going to go ahead and get this thing constructed as soon as they can get it agreed to.” Fireman’s Skate and Bike Park, named in honor of the late longtime Bayou Cane Fire Chief Jerry Gautreaux, who left Terrebonne $10,000 for its would-be park, will be built in the adjacent lot next to the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center on La. 311. A friend among local skaters who had been ticketed for skateboarding, Gautreaux left the money in his will because he wanted skaters to have a safe place to practice their sport, his family said.He requested that the park not be named after him. Parish law prohibits skateboarding at public buildings, on sidewalks and in any area that obstructs traffic. Penalties can include a $500 fine, up to 30 days in jail or both.Still, parish officials have been saying for years that they recognize the need for a skate park to satiate the demand from local skaters. “If your city doesn’t have a skateboard park, your whole city becomes a skateboard park,” Claudet said. “And we need to have something to allow our young people an outlet to let out some of their energy.”Taxpayers will cover the rest of the park’s costs, which has been budgeted at $675,000. After numerous meetings, the Civic Center site was ultimately chosen for the park because it’s accessible, visible and at a high elevation, plus a parking lot is already in place, officials said. The park will be open from dawn till dusk, and a few basic rules will be posted on a sign. The sign will also remind skaters they’re skating at their own risk.State law was amended in 2001 to include skate parks in the same category as playgrounds and ball fields, meaning governments that build them are generally free from liability. As far as noise, Kyle Domangue, an architect from Duplantis Design Group in Houma, said fencing, daytime park hours and landscape berms around the edge of the park will help mitigate some of the sound. The park will be complete with restroom facilities and a small pavilion for shade and seating.Duplantis Design Group has been teaming with Spohn Ranch, a skate park design firm based in Los Angeles, to design the state-of-the-art park. The park’s preliminary design features bank walls, concrete bowls that drop about 4 feet, grinding edges and a central stair set with a handrail in addition to benches. Recreation District No. 2-3 will maintain the park after it’s built. Other than that, there will be no hired staff at the park, so keeping the park in check will be up to visitors who police it themselves. “The parks where local skateboarders are taking a sense of ownership in the park are the ones that are successful,” said Vince Onel of Spohn Ranch. “The parks that are tucked away in the corner of town, those are the ones where you see problems.” Chairman of Recreation No. 2-3 Gary Beeson shared the sentiment. “You are going to have to be the police,” Beeson told skaters. “This is going to be your park. We are going to make it better after they finish it and get you what you need. But if you go out there and destroy it and tear it up, this thing just becomes a tore-up place. This is something you should all be proud of that belongs to you.”An additional 3 acres are available at the park if expansion is needed. At 7,500 square feet, the park encompasses half an acre on a 3-acre plot, but Claudet said it may be the first of three in the parish. There are talks of building another park in east Houma and one at the future Field of Dreams sports complex off La. 311 near the Terrebonne Lakes Subdivision, Claudet said. The park is not intended to be an economic-development tool, though it has proven to be a draw for other cities. Stan Robinson, chairman of Recreation District No. 3 in St. Mary Parish, said his district’s skate park, built in November, has been a worthwhile venture. “I can’t tell you how many times a parent has said to me that it’s the best taxpayer money they’ve spent,” he said. Nearby businesses, he said, are seeing their sales increase from visitors to the park.“We are already planning to expand it,” he said.The workshop was intended to gather insight from locals on how they want their park built for both beginning and advanced skaters. A local skater at the meeting questioned whether the park, in addition to skating amenities, will have enough space to avoid collisions. Onel said planners always try to consider a spacing-versus-amenities balance.“A lot of the users will say ‘Take every dollar and every square foot and put it toward skating,’ and then there are other skaters that say ‘Let’s hold back a little bit on packing this park and make sure there is some seating,’” he said.While the park will boast large concrete bowls, other concerns were aimed toward the issue of drainage. “Fortunately, we are right next to the bayou,” Domangue said. “Our civil-engineering team is well-aware of what we should and shouldn’t do relative to drainage.” Domangue said once he and Onel review the workshop surveys from the meeting and pencil in additional changes, they expect to break ground on the park in about three months. The park is expected to be finished before the end of this year.

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